Digitas employees give children international tour at Yerwood

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, August 11, 2009

STAMFORD -- A Stamford business closed its doors this month, but not because of financial difficulty.

More than 70 employees from the global marketing and communications agency Digitas Stamford took Thursday, Aug. 6 off to host "One Day, Six Countries: The Ultimate Class Trip with Digitas" at the Yerwood Center on Fairfield Avenue. The employee volunteers wanted to use their international background and experiences in a volunteer setting, so they designed a day of fun activities to teach children about international culture at the community center, which focuses on providing Stamford's West Side youth with educational and personal development opportunities.

The day's activities were linked with six countries. There was soccer from Brazil, mural painting and hieroglyphics writing from Egypt, anime drawing from Japan, pastry decorating from France, limbo competitions from Trinidad and Tobago, and mosaic tiling and Picasso-style watercolor painting from Spain.

Eight-year-old Jouseth Tolentino said her favorite activity was the limbo.

"And the cookies and Brazil," she added. "And Japan."

She said she learned a lot about Egypt in her session there -- each room was transformed into one of the countries.

"In Egypt, when they tried to tell stories, they'd write it in pictures," the Hart Magnet School student said happily as she fingered the shiny beads around her neck from the Trinidad and Tobago room.

In the Spanish room, 12-year-old Bryan Guevara from Trailblazers Academy was painting with fellow Trailblazers student Steffan Harding, 11. Bryan said he had fun in the Japanese room learning the history of anime.

More than 200 students in kindergarten through sixth grade participated in the day. Yerwood Center Human Resource Supervisor Vynette Johnson said the children had another international day earlier in the week, and she was afraid it would be repetitious, but the students were very excited about the Digitas program.

"I'm very glad they (the Digitas employees) were willing to come and spend time with these lovely, lovely children," she said.

In addition to working with students in each room, Digitas volunteers also painted a vibrant underwater scene, new bookshelves and a chalkboard wall in a kindergarten room and donated books to the library at the community center.

"We wanted to leave more of a lasting impression in the school," said Michelle Mora, Digitas' vice president/group director of marketing.

Kenneth Parks, Digitas Stamford's senior vice president, said the company has a volunteer day every year, but it's usually more along the lines of renovating a park or a school, and he was happy this year's was more personal.

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"The people giving their time today have the first-hand experience with children," said Parks. "For the kids, it's giving time and attention and quite frankly love, and I think both parties get something out of it."